Taliban Commando Raid on U.S. Consulate in Afghanistan

As President Obama and his cabinet mull over the benefits of launching a new war in Syria, we are reminded of a huge elephant in the room. Hundreds of billions of dollars, and many thousands of lives later, the failed US-led invasion and NATO occupation of Afghanistan seems to be going swimmingly well…

The latest evidence of the total failure of the Afghanistan money hole came this morning, as the Taliban attacked the U.S. consulate in western Afghanistan, using a car bomb and small arms in a battle with security forces, just outside the compound in the city of Herat.

This is not the first time a western government facility has been targeted recently, and it will not be the last either.

KABUL — Assailants launched a brazen commando-style attack at dawn Friday on the U.S. consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat, touching off a fierce gunbattle, and residents said several Afghan police officers were killed.

The State Department confirmed the attack, saying that no Americans were slain but that an unknown number of Afghan police were likely wounded.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the second major one targeting key U.S. facility in Afghanistan since the efforts for starting peace talks with the insurgents failed in Qatar back in June. The previous attack included the main CIA station near the presidential palace in Kabul where some local guards of the station were killed.

In Friday’s attack, the Afghan police were guarding the heavily protected compound when a strong blast caused by a car bomb ripped through its main entrance, residents and an Afghan army official said. The explosion killed several police, residents said. The State Department described the blast as coming from a truck bomb…